What can you say about the Cardinals without getting a little sick to your stomach? Well, not much, but I’ll power through.

If you are one of the best receivers in the league, a receiver who can jump out of the stadium while contorting his body to make spectacular receptions, and you get eleven targets, but only catch four of them, you have a problem at quarterback.

Each week last season I started the Cardinals section, “well, the good news is that Fitzgerald saw plenty of targets.” I’m not going to say that this season. He should see the majority of targets and they should be more productive targets. Until that happens, just hold your breath and hope he gets in the end zone and don’t worry about any of their other receivers.

Ryan Williams and Beanie Wells didn’t show much, but we at least know that Williams is the receiving back and worth watching in PPR leagues.

The superhero duo of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones hooked up for two touchdowns and 100+ yards receiving while Roddy White played second fiddle. But don’t go throwing White into the old used up receiver bin just yet. He finished with the same amount of receptions, six, as Jones and he, like Jones, had three red zone targets. Jones is the better player at this point, but White is still getting his opportunities.

The old man and the Quizz Show duo isn’t quite as dynamic, well, the old man part at least. Michael Turner had no targets of course, but also split snaps almost evenly with Rodgers, 26 for Turner and 25 for Rodgers. Turner is still clearly the goal line back with five carries inside the red zone compared to none for Quizz, but as you can tell by his zero touchdowns and 2.9 yards per carry, he wasn’t too successful. The NFL grim reaper is hovering around Mr. Turner.

The Panther’s offense had little rhythm against a surprisingly stout Buccaneers run defense, but we did get to see how Newton spread the ball around. Of course old reliable Steve Smith was the target leader, while Greg Olsen came in second. The two receivers we want to watch as far as playing time and targets are Murphy and LaFell. Both finished with five targets, but LaFell was in on all 52 snaps compared to Murphy who was in on 39. Both are received enough work to be relevant, but LaFell was the one to haul in a touchdown and is currently the one to own.

DeAngelo Williams had a disastrous game with Jonathan Stewart out with an ankle sprain, so we most likely will see the running back numbers change dramatically when he returns to his passing down role.

Cutler to Marshall was the connection of the day and most likely the year. His 15 targets were the third most in week one. He actually had an amazing 11 targets at half time. He will easily be in the top five for targets this season barring injury.

Rookie Alshon Jeffery had a nice game, catching three of his five targets for 80 yards and a touchdown. Jeffery also saw the second most snaps next to Marshall, with 43 compared to 33 for Devin Hester and 18 for Earl Bennett. He’s very much worth adding to your bench, especially since Hester should continue to see less snaps if there is any justice in the world.

Matt Forte continues to get his work in the passing game and even carries in the red zone, but Michael Bush will continue to get goal line work because he’s much better at the job than Forte. I have beat this stat into the ground, but it bears repeating! Over the last three years Forte has had 33 carries inside the five yard line and scored a total of three touchdowns. Just this last Sunday, Michael Bush had three attempts inside the five and scored two touchdowns. The math wins!

Kevin Ogletree abused the Giants’ weak depth in their secondary and Romo once again showed his ability to go through his progressions. Miles Austin, Dez Bryant and the spleen machine Jason Witten all played this game with hardly any preseason games or practice, so these numbers are a bit skewed. But Romo is good enough to give an array of receivers productive targets, as we saw last season with Laurent Robinson.

Ogletree amazingly was only on the field for 33 snaps compared to 58 and 57 for Bryant and Austin, but his matchups were better and he saw all three of the red zone targets.

Brandon Pettigrew continues to be a target hog, which is great for PPR leagues. He also had two red zone targets, which is also good. Now if he could just get into the end zone.

The battle between Titus Young and Nate Burleson was won by Burleson this time around, but Young is the more talented receiver. Does that mean he will take over at any second? No, he still needs to prove himself, but if I’m taking a risk on either, it’s Young

Kevin Smith saw six targets which should keep him in the fantasy picture even after Mikel LeShoure returns.

The 49ers did a great job of limiting Aaron Rodgers to short to mid-range throws, which is one of the tougher things to do. That boosted up Finley’s and Cobb’s targets and receptions quite a bit.

Usually Rodgers is much more efficient. Last season he only topped 40 pass attempts once and in this game he had 44. Other teams may learn from this, but it will be difficult to execute. These target numbers will drop.

James Jones saw roughly the same amount of snaps as Nelson, Jennings and Finley and two red zone targets compared to one for Finley and none for the other receivers. If Greg Jennings can’t go on a short week, Jones may be the guy asked to step up.

For this season I’ll be bringing you Target Watch in two parts, NFC on Wednesdays and AFC on Thursdays. Have at it!

What can you say about the Cardinals without getting a little sick to your stomach? Well, not much, but I’ll power through.

If you are one of the best receivers in the league, a receiver who can jump out of the stadium while contorting his body to make spectacular receptions, and you get eleven targets, but only catch four of them, you have a problem at quarterback.

Each week last season I started the Cardinals section, “well, the good news is that Fitzgerald saw plenty of targets.” I’m not going to say that this season. He should see the majority of targets and they should be more productive targets. Until that happens, just hold your breath and hope he gets in the end zone and don’t worry about any of their other receivers.

Ryan Williams and Beanie Wells didn’t show much, but we at least know that Williams is the receiving back and worth watching in PPR leagues.

The superhero duo of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones hooked up for two touchdowns and 100+ yards receiving while Roddy White played second fiddle. But don’t go throwing White into the old used up receiver bin just yet. He finished with the same amount of receptions, six, as Jones and he, like Jones, had three red zone targets. Jones is the better player at this point, but White is still getting his opportunities.

The old man and the Quizz Show duo isn’t quite as dynamic, well, the old man part at least. Michael Turner had no targets of course, but also split snaps almost evenly with Rodgers, 26 for Turner and 25 for Rodgers. Turner is still clearly the goal line back with five carries inside the red zone compared to none for Quizz, but as you can tell by his zero touchdowns and 2.9 yards per carry, he wasn’t too successful. The NFL grim reaper is hovering around Mr. Turner.

The Panther’s offense had little rhythm against a surprisingly stout Buccaneers run defense, but we did get to see how Newton spread the ball around. Of course old reliable Steve Smith was the target leader, while Greg Olsen came in second. The two receivers we want to watch as far as playing time and targets are Murphy and LaFell. Both finished with five targets, but LaFell was in on all 52 snaps compared to Murphy who was in on 39. Both are received enough work to be relevant, but LaFell was the one to haul in a touchdown and is currently the one to own.

DeAngelo Williams had a disastrous game with Jonathan Stewart out with an ankle sprain, so we most likely will see the running back numbers change dramatically when he returns to his passing down role.

Cutler to Marshall was the connection of the day and most likely the year. His 15 targets were the third most in week one. He actually had an amazing 11 targets at half time. He will easily be in the top five for targets this season barring injury.

Rookie Alshon Jeffery had a nice game, catching three of his five targets for 80 yards and a touchdown. Jeffery also saw the second most snaps next to Marshall, with 43 compared to 33 for Devin Hester and 18 for Earl Bennett. He’s very much worth adding to your bench, especially since Hester should continue to see less snaps if there is any justice in the world.

Matt Forte continues to get his work in the passing game and even carries in the red zone, but Michael Bush will continue to get goal line work because he’s much better at the job than Forte. I have beat this stat into the ground, but it bears repeating! Over the last three years Forte has had 33 carries inside the five yard line and scored a total of three touchdowns. Just this last Sunday, Michael Bush had three attempts inside the five and scored two touchdowns. The math wins!

Kevin Ogletree abused the Giants’ weak depth in their secondary and Romo once again showed his ability to go through his progressions. Miles Austin, Dez Bryant and the spleen machine Jason Witten all played this game with hardly any preseason games or practice, so these numbers are a bit skewed. But Romo is good enough to give an array of receivers productive targets, as we saw last season with Laurent Robinson.

Ogletree amazingly was only on the field for 33 snaps compared to 58 and 57 for Bryant and Austin, but his matchups were better and he saw all three of the red zone targets.

Brandon Pettigrew continues to be a target hog, which is great for PPR leagues. He also had two red zone targets, which is also good. Now if he could just get into the end zone.

The battle between Titus Young and Nate Burleson was won by Burleson this time around, but Young is the more talented receiver. Does that mean he will take over at any second? No, he still needs to prove himself, but if I’m taking a risk on either, it’s Young

Kevin Smith saw six targets which should keep him in the fantasy picture even after Mikel LeShoure returns.

The 49ers did a great job of limiting Aaron Rodgers to short to mid-range throws, which is one of the tougher things to do. That boosted up Finley’s and Cobb’s targets and receptions quite a bit.

Usually Rodgers is much more efficient. Last season he only topped 40 pass attempts once and in this game he had 44. Other teams may learn from this, but it will be difficult to execute. These target numbers will drop.

James Jones saw roughly the same amount of snaps as Nelson, Jennings and Finley and two red zone targets compared to one for Finley and none for the other receivers. If Greg Jennings can’t go on a short week, Jones may be the guy asked to step up.

Drew Brees’ arm may fall off this season if the Saints defense can’t stop the other team from putting up 40 points on them. Three players saw double digit targets! That’s some crazy talk. If there was more time in the day, I’d look into how often that has happened, but my wife may disown me.

Colston and Graham are your usual target suspects, but lance Moore is the Keyser Söze of this group. Moore didn’t see double digit targets once last season. Of course most of his targets came in desperation mode, but it’s not like the Saints ever think they are out of a game, because they aren’t.

And even more good news for Moore (if only his name was Evan Moore) is that he ran the second most receiving routes on the team with 52 compared to 54 for Colston and 47 for Graham. I like these numbers for Lance (don’t even call me Evan) Moore.

Darren Sproles didn’t rush the ball once, but did have five receptions on eight targets, with a touchdown. The best news is that four of those targets came in the red zone.

When you look at the snap count data, there is little doubt who the main receivers are, as Cruz, Nicks and Bennett were all on the field for 50+ snaps while Hixon was the next closest with 27.

Victor Cruz went on a pass dropping binge and Nicks still had a sore foot. This shall pass. But the Black Unicorn galloped his way to six targets, four receptions and a touchdown, which is probably around his ceiling (plus a few yards). He will most likely need to score a touchdown to be fantasy worthy, much like tight ends of yore.

Michael Vick “targets” a lot of receivers, but the other team came up with four inter-receptions and had chances at a couple more. So not all of these targets were worth writing home about, but they were targets I suppose. And as far as fantasy goes, these are the guys you want targeted early and often for the Eagles.

Maclin was Vick’s favorite target for the day and also in the red zone where he threw it his way three times. Maclin and McCoy should be fantasy slump proof this season.

It will be interesting to see how Moss is used going forward. In this first game he only ran 10 pass routes, but was targeted four times and two of those in the red zone. It’s going to be hard to keep him off the field.

Sid Rice and Bray Bray Edwards were on the field much more than any of the other receivers and their target numbers bear that out. The Cardinals pass defense is nothing to scoff at, so the poor numbers may not be completely indicative of how this season will go for Seattle’s passing offense.

The Rams two starting wide receivers are Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson. They saw the lion’s share of the receiving work against um, Detroit. Those aren’t the guys that will lead you to too many dubyahs.

Amendola is a worthwhile PPR player, but the list of Rams receivers who are vying for Gibson’s job is long. I’m staying away from all Rams receivers in standard leagues and throwing Danny in PPR and hoping Steven Jackson can stand up to the Fisher induced pounding.

Mike Williams was on the field a whole bunch for only seeing three targets, but fortunately, one of those came in the end zone and resulted in a touchdown, thank you very much.

It does seem pretty evident that Josh Freeman feels like Vincent Jackson is his best shot at a productive passing game, while Doug “Muscle Hamster” Martin is the motor propelling the Buccaneers ship into the defenses port.

Martin had four receiving targets, 24 carries, with six of those carries coming inside the red zone. He just missed getting into the end zone, but it will come soon enough.

Pierre Garcon ran five pass routes, had four targets, and caught all four targets for 109 yards and a touchdown. Holy wha? If you extrapolate that out for a whole game he would have broken all of Jerry Rice’s career marks by halftime.

As long as Garcon is back this weekend these numbers are a little misleading, but it’s good to know that Aldrick Robinson is next in line and that even with Garcon out, Fred Davis wasn’t the guy RGIII targeted.

The running back numbers were dominated by Alfred Morris while Roy Helu served as the third down back. Morris had a bit of good fortune getting to 28 carries against a Saints team that almost never gives up 20 carries to an opposing back. He will need a large workload to come close to those numbers again and since he isn’t the third down back, those may not be the norm.

Check out the AFC Target Watch soon (Thursday) and for the rest of your life!